shalan joudry
multi-disciplinary storyteller
shalan joudry is storyteller working in many mediums. She is a poet, playwright, podcast producer, oral storyteller, actor, filmmaker, as well as a cultural interpreter. For over two decades shalan has brought her eco-cultural stories to a new generation of listeners. She is L'nu (Mi'kmaw), a member of Bear River First Nation, Nova Scotia, with mixed settler heritage.
shalan has published two books of poetry with Gaspereau Press: Generations Re-merging (2014) and Waking Ground (2020). Waking Ground was shortlisted for numerous awards. Her first short film, welima'q, is based on a poem in Waking Ground, and is now finding its way in film festivals.
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shalan's latest book, The Art of Mi'kmaw Basketry is a celebration of the stories and art of nine Mi'kmaw basket-makers.
shalan’s poem, KmÉ™tkinu, where she brings together a total of 13 different languages and voices to read her words, was featured at Nocturne (Halifax) as an audio installation in the Halifax Public Gardens. KmÉ™tkinu is also being published as a limited edition hand-pressed book by Running the Goat Books and Broadsides, a micro press producing exceptional quality books that is based in Newfoundland. shalan is currently collaborating with Mocean Dance to re-vision the poem as a dance work.
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Photo by Dan Froese
Photo by Dan Froese
Her first full length play, Elapultiek, which tells the story of two contrasting ideologies around conservation and understanding of the landscape of Mi’kma’ki, was commissioned by and produced twice by Two Planks and a Passion Theatre (2018 and 2019). shalan acted a lead role in both productions.
The script for Elapultiek was published by Pottersfield Press (2019).
In 2021 shalan teamed up with theatre director Ken Schwartz and mask coach Ann Marie Kerr to stage her newest theatre piece, KOQM. This one-woman show recounting the strength of L'nu women over a 400-year period of colonization, premiered on the King's Theatre stage in Annapolis Royal, NS and then later made a short tour around NS during 2022. KOQM won the 2023 Robert Merritt theatre award for best new NS play.
She is currently touring an off-grid production.
In 2016 shalan graduated with a Master of Environmental Studies from Dalhousie University and was nominated for a Governor General Gold Medal award for her thesis work on Mi’kmaw ways of knowing about fire on the land. In her role as a conservation ecologist, shalan uses Two-eyed Seeing methodologies to ground mainstream ecologists into L’nu cultural perspectives to work more effectively together on conservation programs.
She is currently a PhD candidate at Dalhousie University in Interdisciplinary Studies (Creative Writing, Environmental Studies, and Indigenous Studies) as she researches her Indigenous L'nu language and landscapes.
Photo by Dan Froese
shalan, along with her partner, Frank Meuse, facilitates eco-cultural and ecological professional development workshops in a forest retreat within their community.
shalan has been focusing more in recent years on reclaiming her L’nu language. It’s been a difficult but beautiful journey. She hopes to weave her Indigenous language into as much of her work as an artist and ecologist as possible.
shalan lives in her home territory of Kespukwitk (southwest Nova Scotia) with her family in their community of L’sÉ™tkuk (Bear River First Nation), where she is currently walking, dreaming and creating.
Photo by Frank Meuse